Just Trying to Survive
by Silent Kage
Summary: When two longtime friends and a service dog get thrown into Skyrim without any warning, both are firmly set on staying away from anything that might kill them. But with injured Jarls, curious dragons, and polite Daedric Princes continuing to knock on their door, they know that they'll get pulled into the thick of things whether they want to or not. NO!Dragonborn(s), slightly OOC
1. Chapter 1

_**Just Trying to Survive**_

_Summary: When two longtime friends and a service dog get thrown into Skyrim without any warning, both are firmly set on staying away from anything that might kill them. But with injured Jarls, curious dragons, and polite bandits continuing to knock on their door, they know that they'll get pulled into the thick of things whether they want to or not. NO!Dragonborn, OCs, slightly OOC characters_

Yes, I know I have like 3 other stories that I need to get around to updating, but it's been hard to find the motivation to write them. I won't be abandoning them, but just bear with me please! I'll get to updating them soon. For now, this is what my mind came up with~

**Disclaimer: I Silent Kage do not own TES:Skyrim or any of TES games mentioned. The OC's Alex, Robyn, and Liam, however, are mine.**

Sun light filtered through the treetops down to the ground, where the spotty morning light illuminated the form of two sleeping people and a large dog. Though, from how all three were laying, it seemed more likely that they had collapsed on the forest floor than fallen asleep. The dog was the first to awake. He let out a small whimper, as if it was causing him pain to stand up, but when he did, he was quick to move to the side of one of the women. The large beast was completely black, and much larger than any of the dogs or wolves of Skyrim. He sniffed the woman over and began nudging her urgently with his nose around her stomach and face. The woman on the right, as both of the persons on the ground were female, groaned softly as she awoke, batting the cold nose away with her hand.

"Stop it, Liam… Five more… minutes…"

The woman yawned and rolled over on her side, away from the persistent nudging. The hood to her cloak slipped off, though, when she turned her back to the dog, Liam. The woman was a Nord with long golden blonde hair that spilled over her shoulders and onto the ground. She had a pale complexion, with average cheek bones, dark eyelashes, and pale lips, and had she opened her eyes, one would notice that her eyes were a light green. Beside her on the ground was a hunting bow, along with a quiver of steel arrows, a steel sword, and an iron dagger.

Liam, frustrated at his mistress's dismissal of him, began pawing at her back, which made the woman realize that she hadn't trimmed his nails in quite some time.

"Damn it Liam! Quit try to shred… my… holy shit…"

The woman had woken up and quickly sat up in an upright position to stop the scratching, and just realized that she had no idea where she was.

"W-Where am I?"

Beside her, Liam barked, which drew her attention away from the surrounding woods and over to her beloved service dog, only to let out a small shriek.

"L-Liam?!"

The large dog, that didn't even look remotely like her medium sized British Lab, barked again and wagged its tail before squeezing his head underneath her arm and plopping down in her lap.

"Oomph!"

He had been heavy in her lap when he was 70 pounds, but the woman estimated he had to be closer to 110 pounds now, and it seemed like all of the circulation in her legs was being cut off.

"L-Liam! Get off my legs before you crush me! Off, boy!"

Slowly, with almost a pout, the large dog slunk off her lap and laid down beside her with a whine. Looking around again, the woman noticed another person still asleep nearby, though they too were covered by a cloak with their back to her. All of a sudden, she remembered who she was with last.

"Alex!"

Scrambling up, the woman raced over to her asleep friend and knelt down beside her before shaking her shoulders in an effort to wake her up.

"Alex, wake up!"

"Mmmm… Noooo….Too early, Robyn…."

Alex rolled onto her back and the woman stopped shaking her friend to stop and stare at her in shock.

"Holy shit… Alex?"

"Whaaaat?"

"W-Why are you a Khajiit?"

Blearily, Alex cracked her eyes open to squint at her friend above her.

"Robyn, what the hell are you- Holy shit! What the hell happened to you?!"

"Me?! What about you?! You're a fucking Khajiit! And what do you mean 'What the hell happened to me?!'"

"What?!"

Alex sat up and looked down at her hands, only to find her once human hands were now covered in fine brown striped fur with sharp white claws extending from her fingertips.

"Oh. My. God…. This is awesome!"

Alex jumped to her feet in a swift motion and turned her head to look over her shoulder to look at the striped black and brown tail that poked out beneath her grey wool cloak. She looked back at Robyn, who had stood up beside her, and gave her a cat like grin.

"This is so- Wait, how are you still taller than me?"

Robyn grinned down at Alex, who, by Khajiit standards, was at least a foot shorter than the average Khajiit, which meant that she was only up to Robyn's shoulder, with her Nord height working for her.

"Wait, Robyn, what do I look like? I don't have a mirror on me…."

Robyn looked over Alex for a moment. Obviously on the shorter side, Alex now had a a fur coat of a medium brown with dark brown and black stripes on her face, similar to a tiger. She had dark brown, almost black hair that was styled into dreadlocks that were held in a loose ponytail and fell down her back. Her slitted and slanted cat eyes were a dark green, which were framed by long black eyelashes. She also had higher cheekbones while her cheeks themselves were white, a dark brown nose, and her whiskers were long and white, drooping slightly at the ends. Her ears, also a medium brown, had black tuffs of fur on the tips of them, which reminded Robyn of a Lynx.

Robyn explained all of this to Alex, who then spent at least a minute trying to catch a glimpse of the tuffs of fur on the tips of her ears before eventually giving up.

Suddenly, Alex jumped in the air and spun around to face Liam, who had apparently started sniffing at Alex's tail without her knowing. With a startled hiss, Alex jumped behind Robyn, who was too busy laughing her ass off at her friend's cat-like reaction to calm her down.

After another minute or so, Robyn had finally calmed down enough to tell Alex.

"Sweetheart, that's Liam!"

Alex's eyes got wide as she stared at the massive dog that stood in front of Robyn that was happily wagging its tail.

"He got huge!"

"Yeah, tell me about it…"

Liam barked once, knowing he was being talked about, before Robyn suddenly turned to Alex.

"Wait, you said that I looked different earlier… I'm still human, obviously, but…?"

Alex scratched her head as she looked Robyn over.

"Well, to be honest, you kinda look like a female Ulfric, just ya know, more feminine…. And with boobs. Emphasis on the boobs, seriously."

Robyn looked down and realized that, while Alex had been graced by whatever Gods brought them here with Leather Armor, she, on the other hand, had been graciously given Hide Armor to wear.

Robyn cursed and drew her cloak closer around her to cover up the insane amount of cleavage that the hide armor made her have while Alex was laughing up a storm at her friends dilemma.

"Oh shut up!"

Robyn was distracted, though, when she finally caught sight of her now long blonde locks when one of her side braids fell into her view. Fingering her braid for a moment, Robyn tugged on it to make sure it was real, and after a slight pain from her scalp, she let in fall from her grasp.

"So, now what?"

Robyn turned around and looked at their surroundings for the umpteenth time before shrugging her shoulders.

"Truthfully, I have no idea. Obviously we're in Tamriel somewhere, most likely Skyrim, due to the weather and foliage, but the when and locations… Hell, we could be decades before Alduin shows up, or even years after he's been defeated."

Alex's ears flatted on the top of her skull, "I really hope neither of us is the Dragonborn… That'd be cool and all, to be able to shout, but I'm _pretty_ sure we'd probably get ourselves killed on our first 'go kill this Dragon' mission."

Robyn sighed but nodded her head in agreement, "Second."

Both Alex and Robyn glanced at each other before looking down at Liam, who continued to wag his tail while staring up at Robyn.

"Well, I guess we'd better find civilization first and try to figure out where we are… Let me just grab these first…"

Robyn turned back to where she had woken up in order to grab the weapons she remembered seeing, only to now find a leather backpack sitting innocently next to the small pile of weapons.

"What the hell…?"

She walked over to the pile and picked up the back first and rummaged through it. Some food, a few potions, a change of clothes (which, at closer inspection, turned out to be a blacksmith's outfit), a few rings, and a necklace was all she found in the bag, and after realizing that there were enchantments on one of the rings and the necklace, Robyn slipped them both on, immediately feeling sneakier and quieter on her feet.

Looking over to Alex found that she also had what seemed to be an identical leather backpack, only this time, Alex was pulling out a few spell books. Ignoring her for a moment, Robyn turned back to her own bag and put it on her back before starting to equip her weapons. First the quiver of arrows across her backpack, then the bow which hung off of one of her shoulders, then her sword which was on one hip, and then her dagger, which was strapped to her other hip. Checking to make sure they were firmly secure, Robyn patted Liam, who had followed her over, on the head before turning back to Alex to watch her put her own bow and quiver across her back along with a dagger before immediately picking up one of the spell books.

Robyn shook her head and walked over next to her, with Liam heeling beside her.

"You'll have time to read those later, Alex."

Alex looked up at Robyn with puppy, well, kitty eyes and pouted.

"But…. Flames!"

Robyn rolled her eyes, "Fine, whatever. Just keep one hand on my bag so you don't trip over a root or accidently wander off in the wrong direction."

"Okay!"

Robyn looked down at Liam and nodded her head to her side, "Liam, heel."

Liam gladly trotted to Robyn's other side and then they were off walking. Robyn could feel Alex gripping onto the leather strap that held her back closed, so she didn't have to worry about accidently losing her in the woods. She had also chosen a direction to walk in at random, seeing as neither had any clue what was north and what was south as they couldn't get a clear view of the sky to determine where the sun was. The two friends continued their odd train through the woods, with Liam following obediently at Robyn's side, until they came across an old worn path along a river. Looking both left and right, and seeing nothing that indicated a town, Robyn decided to go to the right, and gently tugged Alex in that direction, seeing as she was still reading the Flames spell book. It was almost another hour of walking, with a small break to rest their legs, before they came across a small town that Robyn instantly recognized. Alex would have too, if she hadn't been so absorbed in her book, but that was until Robyn forcefully lowered her book, and made her look down the road.

"Riverwood…"

Suddenly, a loud thundering roar sounded in the far distance behind them, and the two spun around to get a glimpse of a large black dragon disappearing behind the large Nordic ruins known as Bleak Falls Burrow.

Liam growled, and both women stood frozen for a few minutes, merely staring off in the distance where the dragon had disappeared off to before they both turned as one to look at each other.

"I-I'm pretty sure I know where we are in the game now…"

Alex gave Robyn a deadpanned stare, "No shit, Sherlock."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Just Trying to Survive**_

_Summary: When two longtime friends and a service dog get thrown into Skyrim without any warning, both are firmly set on staying away from anything that might kill them. But with injured Jarls, curious dragons, and polite Daedric Princes continuing to knock on their door, they know that they'll get pulled into the thick of things whether they want to or not. NO!Dragonborn, OCs, slightly OOC characters_

I have the link to the full picture of the story cover on my profile page, which shows what Robyn, Alex, and Liam look like. So go check it out if you want, cause I really had to screw with the graphics to make it fit in the story cover...

**Disclaimer: I Silent Kage do not own TES:Skyrim or any of TES games mentioned. The OC's Alex, Robyn, and Liam, however, are mine.**

Alex, Robyn, and Liam were sitting inside the Sleeping Giant Inn a short while later, discussing their plans on what they needed to do. Robyn had sold her extra rings, and Alex had sold her Flames spell book after she was done reading it, so the two were comfortably eating a warm meal while Liam was gnawing on a raw chicken by Robyn's feet.

"So where should we head to first?"

"Well…"

Robyn took a bite out of the loaf of bread she was eating on before swallowing.

"I was thinking we should probably find some place to live first."

Alex nodded, "Makes sense… Have any idea as to where that would be?"

Robyn rubbed her chin in thought, "Well, I had originally thought about Heljarchen Hall, that one buildable house on the border between Dawnstar and Whiterun, but…"

Alex shook her head, "No, you're right, that wouldn't work. We'd have to become Thanes of Dawnstar and do that nightmare quest that deals with that Daedric Prince Vaermina… Which also means we can't live in any of the cities, damn it…"

"But that's not necessarily a bad thing."

Alex looked over at Robyn, her ears twitching to show her confusion.

"What do you mean? Wouldn't it be safer to live in the walls of a city?"

Robyn shook her head, "Not when the war's in full swing, and half of the cities are either in poverty or will be invaded by the Stormcloak or Imperial Armies at one point or another. So, while it may take a little effort on our part, I think I know of the perfect place for us to live!"

"Where's that?"

"Witchmist Grove."

"…Where?"

Robyn gave Alex a confused look and glanced around them to make sure no one was listening in before leaning closer to her Khajiit friend.

"Didn't you ever do Sanguine's Questline?"

"Ah, nope. Never got around to it."

"Oh, that explains the lack of worry on your part. Okay, so, basically Witchmist Grove is near Bonestrewn Crest in Eastmarch. You know where the hot springs are?"

Alex thought for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, with the Dragon and the Giant's Camp, right?"

Robyn nodded and scrapped the rest of her beef onto the floor for Liam to eat, seeing as he had finished the chicken and was staring up at her.

"Yeah. It's this thick grove of trees a little ways off of one of the main roads where a Hagraven by the name of Moira lives. The shack itself is a wreck, but it has a fence made of wooden spikes around most of the perimeter of the shack, and if we could kill her, we could patch up the shack to make it livable."

"So all we need to do is kill a Hagraven? No, that's not going to be difficult at all…"

Robyn rolled her eyes and reached over to punch Alex in the arm. Alex yelped and rubbed her sore arm.

"Ouch, hey that hurt! You Nords and your brute strength…"

"That was for your excessive use of sarcasm, now hush. It'll take us a little while to get into Eastmarch, much less over to Witchmist Grove, so we need to plan our route and write out what supplies we think we will need for the trip."

Alex stopped rubbing her arm and stared down at the table in thought, "Well, we'll probably need a map of Skyrim before we plan out our exact path of travel, so we might want to plan our supplies list first."

Robyn nodded her head, "Okay. We'll need more food for the trip, and we can probably hunt for deer and rabbits with our bows while we travel… Which reminds me, we also need an axe to cut wood for any fires we make."

"Alright: Food, wood axe… What else?"

Robyn rubbed her chin and looked around the inn, "Well, we still have these traveling cloaks, so we'll be good for cold weather, but we should pick up two sleeping rolls and a bear fur or two for blankets just in case. We can save the pelts to whatever we kill on the way as well, and we can either use them or sell them for extra money."

"Do you think we need a leash for Liam?"

Both women looked down at Liam, who looked back up at both of them when he heard his name before going back to the beef.

"No, I don't think so. I've never had him act out to the point of chasing or attacking something, but I wouldn't mind getting him some armor later on."

Alex nodded, "Okay, so far we need more food, a wood axe, two sleeping rolls, two bear pelts…. maybe we should pick up some more arrows just in case, and some potions."

Robyn nodded, "That sounds good. You can practice your magic on the journey and then we can sell the books for extra money once you've learned them."

While they were talking, the door to the Inn opened up and a rugged blonde man dressed in Stormcloak armor walked inside. He looked around the Inn for a moment, only seeing the Inn's regulars, and was about to turn around to leave when he caught a glimpse of Liam eating on the floor. He looked closer in the back corner and caught a glimpse of two people sitting in the slightly shadowed corner of the Inn, and he began walking towards them.

Liam gave a soft growl at the approaching man, which was all of the warning Alex and Robyn got before the man stepped up behind them.

"You two came up the south road today?"

Alex had kept her hood up and her face in the shadows since she had entered the Inn, seeing as many people didn't trust the Khajiit race due to most of them being thieves and drug addicts. Her voice always threw people off, however, seeing as she didn't speak as a Khajiit would. Robyn, at one point, compared her voice to that of a Breton's, so with her hood up, most people thought she was a small Breton instead of a Khajiit.

"Yes we did, why do you ask?"

The man looked at Alex, "There was an attack on Helgen a few hours ago, and I was wondering if either of you had been in the area when the attack happened."

Robyn, who had had her back turned to the stranger since he had first approached, lowered her hood and turned to look at him while she spoke.

"If you're speaking of the Dragon, we saw it fly over Bleak Falls Barrow, but we weren't around Helen when it attacked. We could hear some of what was happening, but as soon as we saw the Dragon fly away, we turned tail and moved as quickly as we could to Riverwood."

The man stared blankly without speaking at Robyn, and after a few minutes, he seemed to shake his head and apologize.

"Sorry, you just… you look a lot like one of my superiors, that's all. Ah, I'm Ralof, by the way."

Robyn slowly nodded her head, "Um, alright? I'm Robyn, this is Alex, and the mutt on the floor is Liam."

"You… wouldn't happen to have family in Windhelm, would you?"

Robyn looked discreetly at Alex, who was trying desperately to hold in her giggles before turning back to Ralof.

"Um ah, nope, none that I'm aware of. I'm an orphan, actually. Have been most of my life, so I really can't say if I have any living relatives."

Ralof blinked in surprise, "Uh, okay, sorry to bring it up. Just watch the skies when you're traveling now, never know when a Dragon might swoop down."

He turned and left the odd duo, mumbling to himself. When he was out of earshot, Robyn turned to Alex with a scowl on her face, and Alex broke down laughing.

"Y-You sho-should have se-seen h-his f-face! I-I wa-was se-serious w-when I said y-you lo-looked l-like a fe-female Ul-Ulfric! Oh my god, my sides hurt so much! I can't stop laughing!"

Robyn sighed and shook her head, "It's official. I can never step foot in either Windhelm or Solitude without a hood on."

Alex wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes, "Oh, thank god we aren't planning on fighting in the war. Either two Ulfric's on one side or a showdown between brother and sister!"

Robyn looked around them and leaned forward to hiss at Alex in a lower voice.

"I'm not his sister, stupid! And keep your fucking voice down! If anyone hears us-"

"Oh calm down, Robyn! Come on, let's get over to the general goods store and get what we need and head out. You wanna go to the Blacksmith and get more arrows?"

Robyn sighed and rubbed a hand over her face, "Fine, whatever. See if they have a pair of leather gloves for me, okay? I don't want to blister my fingers too fast when I use my bow."

"Will do, meet you out in front of the bridge?"

Robyn nodded, "Yeah, see you in a bit."

Alex got up and left the Inn, leaving Robyn to pack up their remaining food, which only happened to be two apples and half a loaf of bread. Placing the food in her pack, Robyn picked up the bottles of mead that they hadn't touched and put them in the bottom of the bag, planning on emptying them and filling them with water later on.

Slipping her pack back on, Robyn stood up from the bench she and Alex had been sitting on and looked down at Liam, who was staring back up at her while thumping his tail on the floor.

"Liam, heel."

Liam jumped up and moved to her side, obediently following Robyn as she walked out of the Inn and onto the wooden porch outside. Robyn looked around once she was outside, taking in what Riverwood really looked like before making her way down the steps and taking a left, heading towards the blacksmith's shop. Even from the Inn, she could hear the telltale sounds of metal hitting metal, and as she got closer, she could see the blacksmith, Alvor, banging away at the forge.

Making Liam stay at the bottom of the stairs away from the chaos of the forge, Robyn walked up the stairs towards the blacksmith, who stopped his work once he realized he wasn't alone.

"Can I help you?"

Robyn nodded, "I'm needing more steel arrows, do you have any for sale?"

Alvor grunted and turned away from the forge and to the table nearby. He shuffled through the piles of iron and steel weapons and armor on it before coming over to her with two quivers of steel arrows.

"Sixty arrows for 100 septims."

Robyn nodded and pulled the gold pouch off of her waist before counting out 100 septims and passing them over. Alvor gave her the two quivers of arrows, then, and then went back to his forge, allowing Robyn to head back down the stairs to where Liam was sitting.

"Come on Liam, heel. Let's get to the bridge to wait on Alex."

Liam trotted alongside Robyn as they made their way back towards the Inn, only this time they passed by it and continued down the road. They passed under the stone archway at the other end of Riverwood and walked a little further until they came to the stone bridge that crossed over the river. Robyn sat down on the stone way that acted as the guard rail for the bridge and stared down at Liam, who was content to just lie at her feet. A few minutes passed and Robyn heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Thinking it was Alex, Robyn turned to greet her, only to see it was Ralof walking towards her with a pack swung over his shoulder.

He greeted her with a wave of his hand, one that she responded to with a wave of her own.

"You leaving already?"

Robyn nodded to his own pack, "I could ask you the same thing."

"Yeah, well, I have to get back to Windhelm. Not many of us made it out of Helgen alive, and Jarl Ulfric will want to know just who all escaped with him."

Robyn raised an eyebrow in fake shock, "Jarl Ulfric was at Helgen, too? Just what had happened in Helgen, anyways?"

Ralof shifted his pack on his shoulder, "The Empire had captured us, we think it had something to do with the Thalmor being there. They had planned on executing all of us, even Jarl Ulfric, without a trial. Everyone would have seen the true colors of the Empire then. But then, out of nowhere, a Dragon attacks. Fire was everywhere. I hardly believe it myself, and I was there. I was the first to make it to Riverwood, but Riverwood was the least direct route to go back to Windhelm, so the others are most likely already on their way back."

Robyn shook her head in disappointment, "The Empire needs to be stopped. Skyrim without Talos is like a warrior without a blade. Everyone knows that, Nord or not. And now Dragons are coming back..? Heh, if we're lucky, maybe the Dragons will scared the milk drinking Imperials all the way back to Cyrodiil for us."

Ralof laughed, "Maybe they will! Not sure if I'd rather deal with the Dragons or the Imperials, though."

He looked her over for a moment.

"You should join up the fight in Windhelm. We could use capable warriors such as yourself."

Robyn shrugged her shoulders and leaned back against the bridge wall. She didn't realize what she did until Ralof's eyes darted down to her chest, and she casually drew her cloak tighter around her, which made him blush in realization that he had been caught staring.

"I would, but I'm only a hunter, and besides, I don't go anywhere without Alex, we're like sisters, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be allowed in the army with me."

Ralof's eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, "But we have other Bretons in the Stormcloak army…?"

Robyn gave a small smile, "No, Alex isn't a Breton, she's a Khajiit."

She laughed at Ralof's shocked expression, "Yeah, I know, she doesn't sound like one, but that's why she keeps her hood up when we're in towns. Skyrim is more hospitable to Bretons than Khajiit, as you know."

"But she's so short!"

Robyn laughed louder at his exclamation, "Don't let her hear you call her short, that's always been a touchy topic for her."

She then shook her head and nodded down the path, "Anyways, you'd probably better get going. It's a long way to Windhelm by foot."

Ralof looked up at the sun and nodded, "You're right. Maybe we'll meet up again?"

Robyn shrugged, "It's not likely, but maybe. Stay safe, Ralof."

"You too, Robyn."

Robyn watched as Ralof continued over the bridge and down the path towards Whiterun, where eventually she knew he would head into Dawnstar towards Nightgate Inn and eventually into Windhelm.

Robyn continued to watch until Ralof was out of sight before turning her sight back to Riverwood.

"Where the hell is Alex?"

* * *

><p><em>Earlier…<em>

Alex whistled softly to herself as she left Robyn and Liam back at the Inn and made her way down the road towards the General Goods store. The name escaped her at the moment, but she remembered where it was located easily enough., especially since they had already visited the place once this morning. Stepping up to the door, Alex pushed the creaky wooden door open, only to walk straight into the canon argument.

"One of us has to do something!"

"I said no! No adventures! No theatrics! No thief chasing!"

"Well what are you going to do about it, huh?"

"We are done talking about this-! O-oh, a-a customer…. Sorry you had to hear all that."

Alex shrugged her shoulders from underneath her cloak and hood.

"No, it's okay. Actually I have a list of things I was hoping to sell, and to buy, of course."

"Of course, of course…. Well, let's see what you have to sell first."

Alex reached into her own leather bag and brought out a few rings that had originally been in her bag, all of which had enchantments on them, though she didn't need any of them. She slid them across the counter, and the shop owner picked them up to inspect them.

"Hmm… yes, I'll buy these off you… They're in remarkable quality, so I suppose I can give you 500 septims for these two, and 600 septims for this one. Will that be acceptable?"

Alex nodded her head, "Yes, I believe that's fair."

The shop keeper reached below the counter for a moment and pulled back three bags of septims and slid them across the counter to Alex, who drew them closer to her, but didn't take them off the counter.

"I'll be needing two sleeping rolls, two bear pelts, a wood cutting axe, some loaves of bread, a few carrots, two cabbages, a few apples, a few health potions, and a pair of leather gloves."

While Alex was talking, the store owner was scurrying around the store, picking up whatever Alex named off before walking back up to the counter with an arm full of goods.

"I have the sleeping rolls, bear pelts, wood cutting axe, five loaves of bread, three apples, four health potions, and a pair of leather gloves, but I'm out of carrots and cabbages. My advice, if you're heading to Whiterun, there are a few farms outside the walls that sells cabbages, potatoes, carrots, and leeks for practically nothing. Now, the total for all of this is 658 septims."

Alex nodded her head and pushed the bag that had 600 septims in it back towards him before counting out 58 septims from one of the other pouches. She laid the rest of the coins out on the counter and began storing everything in her bag. Her and Robyn could sort everything out when they met back up, though she had to carry the axe and both of the sleeping rolls in her arms, since they were too big to put in the bag. Giving her thanks to the shop keeper, she high tailed it out of the store before they decided to ask her to go retrieve their golden claw for them.

Once she was outside, Alex could see the Alvor the Blacksmith at his forge, but she didn't see Robyn or Liam nearby, so she assumed she was already waiting for her to show up at the bridge. Shifting the sleeping rolls in her arms, along with the axe, Alex made her way down the road to the opposite end of Riverwood, where she finally saw Robyn and Liam waiting by the bridge.

Walking faster, Alex finally caught Robyn's eye as she approached the Nord and dog duo, and she nodded her thanks to Robyn when she took one of the sleeping rolls and the axe from her.

"Thanks, that was getting heavy."

Robyn laid the axe on the railing beside her and put the sleeping roll on the ground.

"Did you get everything?"

Alex nodded, "For the most part. No cabbages or carrots, though, but he said that we could probably stop at one of the farms near Whiterun to buy some if we still want them."

Alex pulled her bag off and began rummaging around in it before pausing and looking up at Robyn.

"Should I carry the food, or should you?"

Robyn thought for a moment, "I'll carry the food. You can carry the books or any valuables we get. We'll both carry our own clothes, sleeping pelts, and bear pelts, but you carry the wood axe, cause I already have three weapons on me."

The two sat down by the bridge and began sorting through their bags, all of the food going to Robyn's bag, and everything else going to Alex's. Alex passed the leather gloves from her bag to Robyn, who had immediately put them on before continuing with her bag. They strapped the sleeping roll to the bottom of their bags, and neatly folded their bear pelts on top of everything inside. Finally they hoisted their almost stuffed bags on their backs, and Robyn passed the axe to Alex, where she strapped it to her waist.

Robyn watched Alex make sure the axe was securely strapped to her waist before addressing her.

"You ready to go?"

Alex looked up and nodded her head, "Yeah, I suppose as much as I can be."

"Then I guess we're off."

The two turned as one, with Liam walking between them, as they walked over the bridge and down the road towards Whiterun. Robyn had her bow in her hands, ready to load an arrow should she need to protect their party, and Alex began testing out her newly found magical ability by summoning small balls of fire in the palm of her hand. Liam trotted between the two constantly looking up at both of them, trying to determine what he should do, and in the end, just continued to walk between the two friends.

They would continue on like this until they reached Whiterun.

* * *

><p><span>Just a reminder that reviews make me write faster~<span>

Oh, and there most likely won't be any pairings, but if you guys really want on, I can try and squeeze one or two in.

And one more reminder, that once college starts up again, I won't be able to update every day as I have been, but I'll try to continue this story as much and as fast as I can~


	3. Chapter 3

_**Just Trying to Survive**_

_When two longtime friends and a service dog get thrown into Skyrim without any warning, both are firmly set on staying away from anything that might kill them. But with injured Jarls, curious dragons, and polite Daedric Princes continuing to knock on their door, they know that they'll get pulled into the thick of things whether they want to or not. NO!Dragonborn, OCs, slightly OOC characters_

**Review Corner!**

_**painxsmile**_: Thank you for the first review! Much appreciated, so here's a virtual cookie. As for your question about Ulfric, I don't believe everyone knows what Ulfric looks like (as no one else in the Inn said anything to Robyn, nor did Alvor), but with the War going on, no one really knows who is on what side, and spies for either side could be anywhere. As it's seen a lot in Skyrim, mostly everyone is 'act first, ask questions later', so it's almost certain that any Imperial spies, or Thalmor, would be more likely to simply arrest her (or kill her) for simply looking like him (because obviously they all know what Ulfric looks like). Hope that answered any possible questions!

_**The-Guy-That-Decide-To-Read**_: I'll be dropping hints about their backgrounds throughout the story, but when talking about their past, they normally won't come out and just say it unless they're talking to each other. Just keep a close eye on their conversations~

**Warnings!: Description of animal skinning (not very graphic or long, but I thought I should put a warning out)**

**Disclaimer: I Silent Kage do not own TES:Skyrim or any of TES games mentioned. The OC's Alex, Robyn, and Liam, however, are mine.**

It was late afternoon by the time Robyn and Alex, along with Liam, made it Honningbrew Meadery, which was located on the crossroads near Whiterun beside the White River. They had stopped by the smaller river, which ran into the White river, to have a small lunch and plan their next move.

"Damn it! I forgot to pick up a map of Skyrim back in Riverwood…"

Robyn shrugged and bit into one of the apples, "Oh it's fine. We can pick one up later. For now, I'm pretty sure I can get us to Witchmist Grove without getting us too turned around."

Robyn looked next to them at the two stone bridges. One crossed over the small river and followed the path North, while the other bridge crossed over the White river and headed East for a moment before turning North. If she remembered correctly, the path eventually turned back East.

"I think we should take the bridge that crosses over the White river. That road should lead us almost directly to Bonestrewn Crest, and then we can just head north to Witchmist."

Robyn tapped her chin in thought, "Kynesgrove is just North of Witchmist, so we could stay at the Inn there for the night before heading back to kill the Hagraven. Slightly off topic, but did you want to stop and get any vegetables from the farms here before we get going?"

Alex thought for a moment before shaking her head, her ears flopping a little at the quick movement, "No, I think we can survive on this food and whatever we can kill on the way, but what are we going to drink? I'd rather not die of liver failure…"

"Oh!"

Robyn turned around and started rummaging through her bag before pulling out the mead bottles from Riverwood. Emptying out the last of the mead onto the ground, Robyn passed one to Alex.

"We can fill it up in the river. Might not be the cleanest, but if we really need water, we can sip on it, and when we make camp some time tonight, we can boil it to make sure it's clean."

Alex nodded and stood up off the ground, soon followed by Robyn. They left Liam to guard their packs as they walked the short distance to the river where they carefully climbed down on the rocks to get closer to the water's surface. It took a few minutes, but both women had eventually filled up their bottles with cool water, and they made their way back to Liam and their bags.

Liam greeted them with a bark, and Robyn smiled at him, rubbing the top of his head in an affectionate manner as they repacked their bags. A few minutes later and the two women, and dog, were off, heading over the bridge. Just as they stepped off the bridge, however, they had heard a low growl, and when Robyn realized it hadn't come from Liam, her first instinct was to draw her bow and notch an arrow into place. Not a moment later and a large tan wolf charged out from the underbrush alongside the road, heading straight for them with lips pulled back in a snarl and teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

Robyn could see Alex summon her flames to her hands out of the corner of eye, and Liam was snarling next to her, but before the wolf could take another step she let the arrow fly from her bow. It sailed straight and true, and hit the wolf with a sickening crack between its eyes. The wolf instantly crumbled to the ground, dead before it even knew what had happened.

Slowly lowering her bow from its ready position, Robyn watched the wolf for any signs of life. When she deemed it dead, she sighed and put the bow back over her shoulder before turning to Alex, who was staring at her with a wide grin while her ears were perked up in an excited manner.

"That was awesome."

Robyn laughed, "I'll be honest, that scared the shit out of me. I thought it was Liam that had growled at first! Now I'm glad I learned how to shoot a bow when I was younger."

Alex nodded, "Same here. It's easy to call on my magic as quick as I did, but it still takes me a moment to actually cast the spell. I suppose I'll have time to practice while we travel though, right?"

Robyn smiled and rolled her eyes, "Of course, but first…"

Robyn turned back to the wolf and unsheathed her iron dagger from her waist. Kneeling beside the wolf, she plunged the dagger into the base of its throat and pulled down, slicing the wolf open with a single quick slice. From there, she began to skin the wolf if its fur. A few minutes later and Robyn held the hide away from her and towards Alex, who took it and draped it over a nearby rock.

"You know, I wonder…"

Robyn rolled the skinned wolf carcass onto its back and opened its inside cavity so that she could peer inside. Reaching a gloved hand inside the wolf's abdomen, she shuffled the organs around for a moment before she withdrew the wolf's stomach. It seemed slightly full from whatever it had last eaten. Robyn took her dagger to the wall of the stomach, carefully slicing it open to the point where it resembled a pouch. She found a patch of grass that wasn't covered in wolf blood and dumped out the contents of the stomach, only to give a triumphant cry.

"Ah ha! Knew it!"

Alex, who had been grimacing the entire time Robyn had been 'operating' on the wolf, peered curiously over her should to try and see what she had found, "What is it?"

"These!"

Robyn scooped something up off the ground and turned so Alex could see what she was holding. In the palm of her hands were two rings: one gold and one silver, both of which had some type of gems in them.

"Oh, I had always wondered where animals kept the jewelry on them!"

Robyn nodded and handed the bloody rings to Alex, who gingerly took them and laid them on the wolf skin behind her.

"That's why I had to check. I had first thought that maybe the rings were stuck in their teeth, maybe they had chomped down on somebody's hand and got their rings stuck, but then I continued with that and realized that maybe they had accidentally swallowed the valuables while eating their last victim."

Alex nodded her head in understanding and agreement as she watched Robyn flip the wolf carcass back on its side, "So now what?"

Robyn stood up and kept her bloody hands away from her hide armor and cloak, "Well, I for one am not up for finding out whether dog meat tastes the same as chicken, so I say we just leave it here for another wolf or sabre cat to eat."

"Yeah me either…"

Alex looked back at the bloody rings on the hide behind her, "Want me to wash the rings and try to get the blood out of the fur?"

Robyn shook her head, "No, just pass them here and I'll go do it. I have to go wash my hands anyways."

Alex nodded and passed the rings and the pelt to Robyn, who turned and carefully made her way down the rocks to the edge of the river. Thankfully, the water ran cold in the White river, so it was easy to extract the blood from the pelt and her gloves, and after a few moments of rubbing the rings in the icy water, they too sparkled, though they did have a few scratches on them. Climbing back up to Alex, Robyn handed the rings over to her.

As Alex was stashing the rings away in her own bag, Robyn moved a little distance away and snapped the pelt a few times, much like someone would do with a towel, in order to remove a lot of the excess water from it. Once she was done, Robyn turned back to Alex and held the pelt up.

"How do you suppose we could dry this while we're walking? I can't have it blocking my access to my bow or quivers…"

Alex thought for a moment, her tail swishing back and forth and her ears twitching, before she snapped her fingers.

"I have an idea. Here, give me the pelt and turn around."

Robyn did as she asked, passing the slightly damp pelt over to her Khajiit friend and turned around so that her back was facing Alex. She could feel Alex doing something with her bag, tugging at some of the straps, before a final tug and she was told to turn around.

Robyn glanced over her shoulder and could just see how Alex had tied it on her bag. It was held onto her bag with a few straps on the lower portion of it, so that it didn't prohibit her use of her bow. Most of the pelt, however, was hanging free in the air behind her legs so that it could properly dry. It brushed the back of her legs teasingly, just a little longer than where the Hide armor covered, but Robyn knew she could deal with the sensation until they set up camp in a few hours.

Checking everything over, once again, the women looked at each other with a joking expression.

"Now, let's try this again, shall we? Are we ready to go?"

Alex laughed, "I think so. Let's just be prepared for any more unwelcomed surprises this time."

"Agreed."

And, once again, Robyn, Alex, and Liam began their trek down the road. They ran into a smaller pack of wolves, only two, which allowed Robyn to get one while Alex got the other, though she had charred it to a crisp with her Flames, which made the pelt unusable. They did, however, take the time to skin Robyn's kill, and check both for any valuables. Neither had anything of value, so after washing the new pelt and tying it next to the first, they continued down the path. This continued for some time, killing wolves, and the occasional Sabre cat, and skinning them of their pelts and checking for anything valuable. After a combined effort of killing another Sabre cat, the misfit group rounded another corner on the hill side when Robyn looked up and stopped.

"Fuck, I forgot about the towers."

Alex looked up in confusion, "What are you-… God fucking Valtheim Towers!"

Across the way stood two towering stone structures that stood on either side of the river with a narrow but elaborately designed stone bridge between them. Even from their distance from the two towers, they could see two bandits walking the bridge back and forth, and at the base of the closest tower, the one that sat beside the road they were traveling on, they knew there was yet another bandit waiting to collect a "toll" from any travelers that walked by.

Alex turned to Robyn, "Got a plan?"

Robyn hesitantly shrugged, "Run past and hope they don't have any bows?"

Alex gave her a bland look before looking back over at the towers.

"How about this. There's normally only one person guarding the entrance and "collecting toll fees", so if we're quiet enough, we should, in theory, be able to kill him/her and get by without alerting the rest of them."

Robyn nodded, "Alright, but get ready to use your dagger just in case. We don't know how strong they are, and a single arrow might not take care of them like a wolf or a Sabre cat."

Alex nodded in acceptance and drew her dagger in one hand, readying her Flames spell in the other as they began creeping forward. Robyn was in the lead, closely followed by Liam, with Alex just off of her left shoulder. Idly, Robyn considered making Liam something of a horned helmet, just so he could actually do some damage when he charged in with something other than his teeth, sharp as they may be.

As they drew closer to the tower, the trio slipped into the shadows of the hill side and continued closer from there; didn't want the enemy to see them before they could have the surprise on their side.

And they were in luck. It seemed the bandit guard out front had decided to take a nap earlier, and was currently sitting with his back against the door, snoring quiet loudly. Robyn turned to Alex and the two had a silent conversation between the two of them before they decided to continue with the plan. The two of them hid in the nearby bushes as they watched the bandit sleep, and Robyn silently drew an arrow back. They could hear the bending of the bow, and the bow string tightening as she pulled it back farther and farther until the tips of her three fingers gently brushed the side of her cheek.

"Ready when you are."

Robyn's voice was a whisper as she spoke to Alex, but she heard her clearly from the short distance between the two of them, and she readied her Flames spell, ready to cast when it was needed.

"After I shoot, use your flames just in case. We don't need him jumping up and alerting the others."

Alex silently nodded, holding her hand out towards the sleeping bandit. Her ears were pinned back in concentration, and her tail was ramrod straight, stuck out behind her like a pole. Robyn breathed in once and slowly released her breath before releasing the arrow. Again, like the previous times, the steel arrow sailed true, if not a little lower than she had originally planned. Instead of his head, the arrow easily sunk into the exposed portion of the bandit's neck, waking him up with a shout of pain and agony, though no sound came out. Robyn ducked a little to the right when she felt the heat of the flames Alex sent out after, and it was long until the bandit laid dead, never able to get up to warn his fellow bandits.

Slowly, Alex and Robyn stood from their crouch in the bushes. They listened closely for any possible sound that indicated the other bandits had heard them, but when some minutes passed without anything, the two breathed a sigh a relief and stepped back onto the road. Robyn replaced her bow back on her back and turned to continue down the road when Alex, from behind her, let out a noise.

"Oh!"

Robyn turned around to watch as Alex ran past the charred remains and into the tower. Liam and Robyn shared a glance before turning back to the door to wait for Alex to reappear. A few moments later and she did just that, only this time she emerged carrying a medium sized clay pot that was filled to the brim with leeks, carrots, and potatoes.

"I'm not sure what reminded me, but I suddenly remembered that there was all of this food just inside the door there. And now we have something to boil our water in!"

Robyn rolled her eyes and pointed at the clay pot with a gloved finger, "I'll carry the vegetables, but you're stuck with the pot."

Alex's ears pinned back against her head as she complained, "What? That's not fair…."

Robyn gave her a look, "If you haven't noticed, I'm already carrying multiple pelts that are still damp and weigh a ton… I don't have a whole lot of room left for anything else."

Alex sighed, her ears drooping in defeat, "Fine, fine… help me tie it on my bag?"

Robyn nodded but motioned with her head down the road, "Sure, but let's put some distance between us and the tower first. We don't need another bandit accidently stumbling across us while we're repacking our packs."

"Oh, right. Yeah, let's go."

The two took off down the road, swiftly but silently as Liam kept pace just slightly behind them. The road began to descend downwards as it curved around another hillside, and once they could no longer see the tower, the group stopped at a small pile of rocks just off the side of the road.

Robyn made Liam lay down beside her while Alex sat the clay pot gently on the rocks, careful not to accidently crack of chip it. Robyn took off her pack next, and the two women loaded it with all of the vegetables that Alex had scavenged from the tower. Once the pot was empty, Robyn swung her pack back of her back and picked up the pot before motioning for Alex to turn around.

Alex did as instructed and turned around, which allowed Robyn to get to work securing the pot to the back of her pack. After some difficulty, which involved removing Alex's own bow and quiver to fit it on her pack, Robyn finally got the pot secured in a manner that she knew it wouldn't fall off. After that fiasco, Alex made a quick check on the pelts that were drying from the back of Robyn's pack, and confirmed that a majority of them were almost dry.

"I think we're almost to the halfway point. We should just be able to make out Bonestrewn Crest when we make the next bend in the road. I want to make it to the hot springs area before we set up camp, or at least nearby."

Alex nodded and jerked a finger over her shoulder, her tail swishing behind her in a playful manner, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going, we're burning daylight!"

Alex then turned and skipped ahead, leaving Robyn to roll her eyes in an amused fashion before calling Liam to her side and following after her friend. She wasn't too sure about the time of day, but she estimated that there was about four hours left of daylight. If they were lucky, they would arrive at the hot springs with enough light left to pitch camp and collect firewood for their dinner, but she didn't want to be too optimistic, especially since this was Skyrim.

* * *

><p><span>Reviews make the world go round! Or at least they give me a warm, bubbly feeling and make me feel a whole lot better about my writing.<span>

Questions, concerns, advice, or opinions: I'm open to anything you need/want to tell me, so just leave a review and I'll be sure to address it during the next update!


End file.
